Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa 156-3 (Charles Morrison 85 not out, Ollie Jonasen 27, Hoffman Haasbroek 23no; Matt Jefferd 2-22-4, Blake Crosby 1-42-4) beat Chicking High School Old Boys Presidents 122-5 (Justin Kohere 38no, Blake Crosby 27, Anthony Boyder 20; Jonasen 2-15-4, George Whitehead 1-17-3, Archie Gillies 1-28-4) by 5 wickets.
Horouta are Poverty Bay Premier club cricket’s 2024-2025 Doleman Cup champions after a history-making victory over High School Old Boys on Saturday.
No batsman passed 50 in the Doleman Cup 40-overs grand final at Harry Barker Reserve, but five mid-range contributions were enough to get Moshim’s Horouta Te Waka across the line and claim their first Doleman Cup title since it was first played for in the 1992-1993 season in honour of Poverty Bay Cricket Association life member Jimmy Dolman.
Teghbir Cheema, vice-captain Shubham Ralhan, Simarjit Basra, Gautam Sareen and Inderpreet Bassi guided the Jagroop Singh-led Waka to victory over Bollywood HSOB - a unit who have won every trophy on offer for the last two years - by five wickets on the representative wicket.
Singh, whose crew worked assiduously during the off-season to raise their standard and increase player numbers, was elated.
“It was a historic win for us,” he said. “Harmanpreet Gill (4-23 in eight overs of off-spin with one maiden) was our Most Valuable Player at the weekend, but every player’s game awareness contributed to our winning that final, whether with ball, bat, chat or in the field.”
HSOB captain Dave Castle said Horouta were “the better team on the day”.
“We were short by 50-75 runs. Horouta went hard in the chase and maintained their momentum throughout the second innings.”
Castle won the toss, opted to bat and HSOB were dismissed for 178 in the first ball of the 37th over.
David Gray (41) and Daniel Torrie (15) put on 35 before Singh bowled the latter three balls into the eighth over.
HSOBs’ most productive partnership was the third wicket-stand of 38 between Gray and his skipper.
The captain’s knock of 24 was preceded by Steve Lamb’s 30 and was followed by a dangerous innings from powerful left-hander Carl Shaw.
Shaw struck a six and five boundaries in his 33-run effort before he tried to sweep medium-pacer Yassh Taak (1-6 off 1 over) and was the first of four batsmen in the match adjudged out leg before wicket by Poverty Bay director of umpires Jason Trowill - the sole umpire as colleague Stewart Patrick, local club cricket’s only other regular official, was unavailable.
The first innings ended when swing bowler Singh went through the defence of Poverty Bay under-19s all-rounder Connor Starck.
In pursuit of 179, Te Waka lost their first wicket with the score at 8 - medium-pacer Lamb trapping Gill lbw for three first ball of the second over.
Off-spinner Castle (2-53 off 8) likewise pinned Cheema (45) in front with the total at 99.
Horouta’s best partnership was a 68 run-effort between Cheema and Sareen (26) for the second wicket.
Ralhan (32 not out) and Inderpreet Bassi (20no) put on 51 for the sixth wicket to get their team home.
Ralhan hit consecutive boundaries off seamer Starck to finish the game three balls into the 28th over.
In temperatures topping 30 degrees, the skills and concentration of all involved were tested and for Horouta, it was a massive result.
Horouta were not so much explosive on Saturday, but they showed grit and resourcefulness and were rewarded with glory.
